Arlen Specter, Man of the Year

You normally need to be dead or retired to be honored by the Pennsylvania Society.

Actually, only one person died between the time he was announced and the annual black-tie fete that draws at least 1,500 of the state's political and business elite to New York City for a weekend of networking, campaigning and fund-raising.

The rest were either retired or no longer in public office.

But leaders of the influential who's who of Pennsylvania politics and business obviously got tired of waiting for U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., to do one or the other.

With the 77-year-old lawmaker gearing up for another re-election campaign in 2010 and seemingly in good health, the Pennsylvania Society chose Specter as it's honoree at the Dec. 8th dinner at New York's posh Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

"I'm at the top of my game," Specter said on Monday as he drove to Harrisburg for a news conference after waking up at 4:45 a.m. to get to the Lehigh Valley in time for a breakfast fund-raiser for his re-election.

He was then headed to Washington, D.C. for Senate votes and a staff meeting.

"I'm in my prime, why would I think of retiring?" he asked before invoking the arguments about amassing the seniority during 27 years in the Senate to deliver for Pennsylvania that are part of his re-election message.

The Pennsylvania Society weekend began in 1899 as a gathering of Pennsylvania's coal, steel and banking titans and has since evolved into the must-attend December event for anybody thinking of running for statewide office or being seen as a player in state business and politics.

"The senator has done such an extraordinary job and is such an extraordinary public servant that our council decided to do it now," said Carol Fitzgerald, executive director of the Pennsylvania Society.

"I think it's a statement of people who observe the Pennsylvania government and political process pretty closely," said Specter.

This year's events at the Waldorf Astoria and surrounding blocks are schedule for the weekend of Dec. 7-9. Hotel rooms, which usually go for $400 and up per night are going fast.

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